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Hey! I'm Jillian Bejtlich. I’m a lifelong New Englander with a serious love of the outdoors, adventure, and a pretty serious inability to sit still. I’m plagued by the travel bug, and it seems I’ll try any relatively sane and safe thing once. My big goal in life: Get people outside!

Review: Bollé Sunglasses – Best EVER!

Sometimes when I receive gear to review, I often wonder if I’ll end up testing it enough. This usually leads to me being extra hard on whatever it is by (accidentally) smashing it into rocks, dropping from heights, sliding down cliffs, and lots of other fun things. Well, fun for me… maybe not the gear. However, I can finally say that I feel like I’ve tested something to the extreme and back… and neither the items or I are any worse for wear. Win!

So, without further rambling, I’d like to introduce you to your next pair of sunglasses: anything at all by Bollé.

This past winter, Bollé was super awesome and sent me a helmet and goggles to test out. As hoped, they were phenomenal and even better than expected. This of course left me with high expectations of all their other gear, so I was excited to test out four pairs of sunglasses. Now three months later, our sunglasses have gone boating, climbing, SUPing, kayaking, hiking, and mountain biking among everyday abuse (aka, Jillian somehow smashing her head and face into stationary objects such as trees, Subarus, and walls). They’ve survived some rough run ins with our pups, unkind travel arrangements, and most impressively – my clumsiness. Not a single pair is dented, scratched, or even showing a single sign of my abuse. I don’t understand how this is even possible.

While Bollé offers dozens and dozens of styles and lenses, I can say with a huge amount of passion that I have three favorites. Here we go!

Rob showing off his favorite sunglasses, the Bolle Bolt S.

Bolt S

Rob pretty quickly claimed this pair as his own and has worn them just about everyday for months now. He was a bit skeptical at first since he really liked his Oakley Flak Jacket (which started falling apart the month he bought them), but he became a Bollé fan a few days in. They’re a great fit for guys and he’s really enjoyed wearing them for just about everything. I’m liking them because they keep up with him no matter what he’s doing… and they do look quite good (yes, I am biased). 🙂 I’d highly recommend them for the guy looking for a great all around pair of sunglasses, but tends to be super tough on gear!

Best Feature: They stay put. No amount of wind, wave riding, or quick rappels got these sunglasses to budge.

The Bolle King right at home on a SUP. Me… not quite there yet.

King

I have the feeling Bollé knew that Rob and I would inevitably end up debating over who got to wear the King style while out on Lake Winnipesaukee if they sent us just one pair, so they were wonderful and sent us two. I’ve called dibs on the black and lime zebra style while Rob snatched up the shiny black and blue frame. Though all the sunglasses we reviewed were polarized, the King style and lenses seemed to handle our water adventures the best. They block out glare from every angle and the nice snug (not to be confused with squeezing your brain painfully) also makes me feel a bit more confident my sunglasses won’t suddenly go flying off my head in the event of an accidental swim. They are definitely my go-to adventure sunglasses and they fit fantastic under a bike helmet!

Best Feature: Love the somewhat wrap around design. I’m often distracted by glare coming into my peripheral vision while out on the water, and this never happens with the King.

The best sunglasses ever… according to me. I love the Bolle Skylar!

Skylar

Last, but definitely not least – I have a love affair with aviators. It started by accident a few years ago when I was invited to a Top Gun party (yes, I have some bizarre friends) and was informed that I needed a flight suit, or at the very least aviators. I opted for some el cheapo aviators and the obsession began. In general, most aviators have this nasty habit of distorting vision due to the natural curve of the big lenses. For some mind bending reason, Bollé’s Skylar just don’t have that problem and I am madly in love with these sunglasses. While I didn’t initially think they’d be well suited for outdoor adventures, we’ve now shared some great hikes, bike rides, and boat time together. In fact, I use them every single day. So, if you’re a fan of aviators at all – you want the Bollé Skylar. Seriously.

Best Feature: These are the best fitting and best looking functional aviators I’ve ever worn (and that my friends, is a lot). I dare you to find better. You won’t be able to. Also fantastic in low light or flat light conditions that still require sunglasses.

About Jillian Bejtlich

Hey! I'm Jillian Bejtlich. I’m a lifelong New Englander with a serious love of the outdoors, adventure, and a pretty serious inability to sit still. I’m plagued by the travel bug, and it seems I’ll try any relatively sane and safe thing once. My big goal in life: Get people outside!